In our lives of all kinds, things and events happen. Events and things like rain, entertainment, laughter, relationships, coincidences, and surprises.

Some we don’t even notice, like the smile of a store clerk as we buy that morning pastry.

Some might catch our attention, like the report of a natural disaster in a faraway place. But, though it may be sad or shocking, it has very little direct impact on us.

Or, we may learn of a life-threatening diagnosis for ourselves or a loved one. Which will undoubtedly change our lives.

Events occur every day, in the life of every individual. 

So What?

In being prepared for life we must begin with the one thing we can control, and that is ‘the person we are’. It Is A choice.

Viktor Frankl said, “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom”.

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Young Tom was born the seventh, and youngest child, of Samuel and Nancy on February 11, 1847, in Milan Ohio. Samuel, an exiled political Activist from Canada and Nancy an accomplished school teacher.  

It became apparent the young Tom was not going to be like other children. 

Though suffering from rather profound hearing loss due to scarlet fever, he was vigorous, bright, and engaged in life. By the age of 12, he was selling newspapers along the Grand Trunk Railroad line. 

There are many lessons we could learn from Tom. It’s complicated, He was complicated. In him, there was both good and bad - and so it is most anyone else who has ever lived.

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As a (now retired) firefighter/EMT It has always been odd to me the random things that I would notice during an emergency. Allow me to share an example.

It was a few days before Christmas and I can recall that this first man was very well-dressed with a dark suit, dark overcoat, and some very expensive shoes. He was tall and distinguished though his appearance was greatly diminished by the fact that he was laying in a crumpled heap on the concrete, in front of the Main Terminal at Dulles International Airport in Washington DC. 

I meet the second man many years later after I had retired, I found retirement didn’t suit me. So, I got busy and became a Locksmith. The name of the company I worked for was Zippy Locks - a that Little factoid only matters because I recall answering the phone at work one day, And A deep male voice began singing, “zippidy do dah, zippidy aye, my oh my, what a wonderful day!” 

These two men were not necessarily teaching anything on purpose, I learned great life lessons from them both.

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Have you heard of some of those crazy ‘challenges’ going around on social media? 

In the past few years there been a few such as the “Ice Bucket Challenge” where a person has a full bucket of cold ice water poured over their head. The “Cinnamon Challenge” where the participant snorts cinnamon up their nose - Ouch. And, the ever ridiculous “Tide Pod Challenge” some numb-skull pops a tide laundry detergent pod in their mouth and eats it – really?

You gotta’ be kidding me. Only today's youth would be stupid enough to do stuff like this.

But, hold on there a minute, this is not the only time in history when people did stupid stuff.

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So – If you’re going to become a famous popular music singer you’re going to need to be Good Looking, Have an edgy attitude, have great moves, a really good manager, and be able to sing your butt off. Well, maybe not that last one.

Maybe, you don’t need to sing at all!

 Allow me to tell you about it.

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A man was lost in the desert. He’s was dying for lack of water. His brain was cooking inside his skull. The wind felt like a standing in front of a dozen hair dryers blasting away on their highest setting. 

HE needed water – soon.

He looked around him a there was nothing but dirt, sage, and cactus.

In the distance, he saw the shimmering of what appeared to be water – lots of it – but he knew better. It’s just a cruel trick of the sunlight and the heat.

He stumbled on.

He found a note at a deserted shack. It began:
Dear Friend,

Don’t know how the ‘heck’ you ended out up out here in the middle of nowhere. But, if you are reading this note you should consider yourself ‘Dang’ lucky. 

First, because you're still alive. 

Second, because I kin' help you … and anyone who comes after you ….  if you will carefully follow the instructions in this note. ...

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Today's episode is on a subject that might be of some value as we look around at what is happening in our world today. 

Everything seems to be so loud, conflicting messages blasting at a fevered pitch - demanding attention, our obedience, and our agreement. 

Disease, Riots, political upheaval, natural disasters, and pundits who are trying to convince us that life as we know it is over unless we see things their way.

Lions; and Tigers; and Bears -- oh My!

In our lives, we will all face times when we are overwhelmed. When the world becomes so chaotic and loud, so hard to understand, that we need to just step back and let the dust settle. Pickup what is left, and move on. 

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You may remember John Paul Jones, the American Revolutionary War hero, and his famous words, "I Have Not Yet Begun to Fight"!

Well, did you know he also lead the invasion of Britain in 1778?

This is a great story about a badly bumbled raid on Whitehaven in the UK, and how failure became a success in the end.

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Our world is filled with things, gadgets, and ideas that are ingenious. Ingenious in the seemingly miraculous things they can do, in their complexity, or sometimes in their simplicity.

Have you ever pondered, “what is the best invention ever?”

Or seen some new gadget and thought, “That’s brilliant, I should have thought of that!”

I have…

SO, in this episode, I contacted friends and family and asked them, “What the best invention ever”? 

You'll enjoy their answers!

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Seems everyone has heard of Rosa Parks, and rightly so, a young lady of color who refused to give up her seat and move to the back of the bus in Montgomery Alabama. IN the 1950s Her actions helped inspire real changes to the segregation laws that existed in the United States.

BUT, there is another…..

About a century earlier…..

The year was 1854, the American Civil war was still 7 years away. And, though Slavery had been abolished a quarter of a century earlier in New York, society was still heavily segregated.

Her name was Elizabeth Jennings. A plucky young school teacher in New Your City.

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